Facebook is notorious for tweaking their layout on a regular basis. Back on December 19th, we got word that they were testing a new design and that it would go live in the coming weeks. Now, it seems that they have finalized the design. TechCrunch is reporting that the social networking giant has begun pushing the new site layout to some of its users.

The notable changes are as follows:

Search bar moved from the right to the left-center (next to Facebook logo)

Settings and login/logout have been combined into an "account" dropdown

Application bar is gone (bookmarked apps get listed on left sidebar)

Notifications are gone, replaced by a counter next to the application link in left sidebar

Many of these changes were expected and announced back in October at the Facebook Developer Garage. Users seem to be fairly pleased with the simpler design. The notifications change is a big deal, as it will prevent the never ending spam that users receive from application notifications. Overall, users are saying that the design is more streamlined and snappier.

Facebookers love to complain about redesigns, and this one probably won't be much different. If you've gotten the re-design, please let us know in the comments. Do you like it better than the previous layout?